Powering Event-Level Insights with GA4 for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts

Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) wanted a better way to understand how audiences were interacting with individual events on their website. Using custom tracking and dashboards, we transformed fragmented Google Analytics 4 (GA4) data into an accessible format, allowing staff to monitor user progression from event detail pages to ticket purchase.

Key Results:

• Event-specific tracking for all performances
• Visibility into add-to-cart and checkout progression rates
• Data segmented by campaign, device, and geography
• Dashboard accessible to all staff

DCPA is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit performing arts centers, presenting theater, dance, and music performances with a wide-ranging seasonal lineup. With such a breadth of programming, it’s critical to track individual events to assess their progress effectively. Standard GA4 collects page views by URL, but once users move to pages like ticket selection or checkout—hosted on TNEW, in their case—the event context disappears. Without event-specific tracking, staff could not answer questions like:

• How many people viewing the Goodnight Moon detail page progressed to checkout?
• Where in the checkout process were audiences abandoning their shopping carts for [SHOW]?

Our Approach

We implemented a targeted solution using Google Tag Manager (GTM) and custom code to:

1. Capture Event-Specific Data: Small GTM snippets were deployed on each page to collect event identifiers beyond just the URL.
2. Create a Dashboard: Built a user-friendly dashboard that visualizes funnel progression for individual events. Staff can filter by event, campaign, device, or geography.
3. Track Key Metrics: Enabled calculation of progression rates, cart abandonment, and purchase rates, turning inaccessible data into actionable insights.

The results were game-changing for DCPA, allowing for:

• Event-Specific Funnel Visibility: Staff can see the full journey for any event, from detail page → select performance → ticket selection → cart → purchase.
• Detailed Segmentation: Metrics can be broken down by campaign, device, or geography.
• Accessible Data: The easy-to-use dashboard is accessible by any staff member at any time, eliminating hard-to-read GA4 reports or custom solutions for leadership.

Key Takeaways

Before this project, staff at Denver Center for the Performing Arts could see how many people visited pages, but once audiences moved past the event listing or ticket selection pages, the story disappeared.

By implementing custom event tracking and building an intuitive dashboard, we changed that. Suddenly, DCPA staff could follow every audience journey, from the moment someone views an event to the point they complete a purchase. They could see which events were performing well, which pages were causing drop-offs, and even drill down by campaign, device, or geography.

This project proved that even small, targeted changes to analytics setup can unlock insights that were previously invisible. It turned complicated GA4 data into a resource that staff can use every day, empowering them to make smarter marketing decisions and understand their audiences in a way they never could before. With event-specific funnel tracking, they can now:

• Optimize marketing campaigns: Know which campaigns are actually driving ticket sales.
• Fix friction points: Identify where audiences abandon checkout and improve the user experience.
• Make smarter programming decisions: Understand which events generate interest but fail to convert.
• Empower the team: Share insights in a simple dashboard so staff can make data-driven decisions.